Weight Problem

If you're like many people, you’re embroiled in a never-ending battle to lose weight and keep it off. The battle is often so tiresome and frustrating that advertisements about the latest magic pill that promises to melt away the fat and make you slim start to sound really good. And why shouldn't they? You think, "I’ll finally be able to slip into that little black dress or designer suit that used to fit like a glove in the old days." 

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a miracle weight-loss pill. If there were, we'd all be showing off our new-found physiques. Ninety-seven million American adults are overweight or obese, and carrying around these extra pounds is putting us at risk for developing diabetes, heart disease, and cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus, prostate, and colon. The added weight is also affecting our emotional health. 

To avoid these health problems, experts say that the best action plan is to achieve a healthy weight that's right for your age and build. The fact still remains that in order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. You can do that by eating healthfully and exercising regularly. That means eating lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains so that your diet derives 30 percent or less of its calories from fat. 

For optimal weight control, you should also get 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, or cycling five to seven days a week. Strength training or resistance training helps, too, whether you use hand weights or exercise machines. Working with any kinds of weights increases lean muscle mass, which burns more calories than fat does and speeds up your metabolism. 

None of these measures is the equivalent of a magic potion, but taken together, they're reliable weight-loss strategies. Once you adopt them, however, you may find that supplements can also work in your favor. Some nutritional and herbal supplements can help suppress your appetite, alternative medicine experts say. There are also some supplements that will help increase the rate at which you burn calories. 

Get to Know the Weight Problem

1. Your Metabolism

One reason that we gain weight with age is that our metabolism
naturally slows over the years - at a rate of 5 percent every 10 years, beginning around age 30. this, of course, means fewer calories burned over time, with more calories then stored as fat on the body, if food intake remains constant. The process is compounded because body fat burns fewer calories than lean tissues does.

2. The Busy-but-no-exercise Lifestyle

Weight gain past 35 has a lot to do with the decline in exercise that comes with age. Beginning in their 30, many folks find themselves impossibly busy - yet less physically active than ever before. Michael Lowe, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist a Hahnemann University, in Philadelphia, says, "As we get older we're more likely to get a 'crowded lifestyle'. We're taking care of parents and children and, if we're moving upward in a profession, we have more job demands - all of which means less time and energy to put into weight control."

3. The Yo-Yo Cycle

Whether weight loss is difficult in the older years depends a lot on how much you've dieted in the past. A person who has never dieted may do pretty well on a weight loss program. It's the ones who dieted 40 times who have the most difficulty. Why? When you lose weight, you lose lots of fat and a little lean muscle. But when you regain, more may come back as fat. It's possible but not yet proven that that fat may be harder to get rid of than other fat, and researchers are investigating whether it is more likely to locate itself in the most health-threatening regions: the abdomen and upper body, rather than the safer "below-the-belt" zone on the hips and thighs.
Fat on the above-the-belt area has been linked to higher risk of heart disease and diabetes and may be linked to higher risk of breast and endometrial cancers for women.

Fill Up with Fiber

Just as fiber-rich fruits and vegetables can help you achieve that slender waistline, so can fiber supplements. "Once you take a fiber supplement, it expands in your stomach dramatically, filling you up," says Jennifer Brett, N.D., a naturopathic doctor at the Wilton Naturopathic Center in Stratford, Connecticut. "When your stomach feels full, it sends a signal to your brain, telling it that you don't need to eat as much. The supplements diminish those hunger pangs." The best fiber supplements for weight loss are psyllium and glucomannan because they are rich in soluble fiber, says Dr. Brett. 

What's more, these supplements have been shown to reduce the number of calories that your body absorbs from food each day, says Liz Collins, N.D., a naturopathic doctor and co-owner of the Natural Childbirth and Family Clinic in Portland, Oregon. 

Several studies on weight loss have shown that fiber supplements can reduce the number of calories absorbed by the body each day by 30 to 180 calories. That adds up to approximately 3 to 18 fewer pounds a year. 

Dr. Brett says that glucomannan is the best fiber supplement you can buy because it has more fiber in each pill than psyllium. Take one glucomannan pill 20 minutes before each meal, she says, or two or three capsules of psyllium or two chitin supplements before meals. Drink at least eight ounces of water with each dose to prevent constipation. 

Get Lean with Chromium

Research shows that chromium picolinate, a supplemental form of chromium, can build muscle mass and reduce fat in people who exercise. The more muscle you gain, the more calories you'll burn each day. 

Chromium also helps your body turn carbohydrates and fats into energy. Moreover, it improves the effectiveness of insulin, the hormone that allows cells to pick up blood sugar that your body needs for fuel from the bloodstream. As a result, blood sugar levels are kept under control. Your energy soars, you crave fewer sweets, and your body's sensitivity to insulin increases, which is key for successful weight loss, says Dr. Brett. 

In a study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, 154 participants were asked to drink two servings daily of a protein/carbohydrate drink. Fifty-five received plain drinks, 33 received drinks containing 200 micrograms of chromium picolinate, and 66 received drinks containing 400 micrograms of the mineral. Body composition was measured before and after the study. 

The study continued for two-and-a-half months. In the end, researchers found no significant changes in body composition in those who received the plain drinks. Participants who received 200 or 400 micrograms of chromium picolinate daily showed significant increases in muscle mass and reductions in body fat.

Although this study suggests that chromium picolinate can be helpful as a weight-loss aid, other studies suggest that you also need to exercise regularly while taking the supplement if you want to reduce fat and improve muscle tone. Dr. Brett suggests taking 200 to 400 micrograms of chromium picolinate daily, but doses this high must be taken under medical supervision. 

An Herbal Fat Burner

In health food stores, you'll find several herbs that claim to be the answer to all your weight-loss problems. The truth is, many don't live up to their claims, and some are downright dangerous. Kelp is one herb, however, that may actually help whittle away extra pounds when combined with a low-fat diet and daily aerobic exercise, says Ellen Evert Hopman, a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild, a lay homeopath in Amherst, Massachusetts, and author of Tree Medicine, Tree Magic. 

Kelp is a type of seaweed that's rich in antioxidant vitamins and iodine. It is believed to stimulate a hormone produced by the thyroid gland that's responsible for boosting metabolism, so you'll burn more calories by the hour, says Hopman. You can also get other kinds of seaweed in your diet by adding them to soups and salads, she says. 

If you take kelp, just follow the instructions on the bottle. While it's completely safe for most people, you should check with your doctor before taking it if you have a thyroid disorder, high blood pressure, or heart problems, says Hopman. 

Super Strategies for Over-35 Weight Loss

Some things get easier over time. Some things don't - like weight loss. "For a lot of people, when they were 35 or younger, weight 
was a minor problem," says weight loss expert and prevention advisor George Blackburn, M.D.,Ph.D. "Maybe their clothing was getting a little tighter. But suddenly after age 35, nothing fits. And weight control becomes a struggle for them."

Why do we tend to gain weight with age? There are a lot of 
powerful reasons. Some are physiological; some are related to life style. But powerful or not, these reasons are not inevitable, unstoppable steamroller that flatten any weight-control plan after age 35. weight control is possible in the middle years - without weird diet and unrealistic fitness schemes that can make your life miserable. What's required is a sober look at the 35-plus forces that make weight control so tough, and some equally sober but workable strategies for overcoming them.

Here is how to stay Ahead of the Gain -

1. Put on Some Moves

Our experts agree that regular exercise is your number-one force for weight control after age 35. It helps you lose unwanted pounds permanently and gives you a big edge in preventing weight gain in the first place. The reason is that exercise literally speed up your metabolism, the rate at which you burn calories. It does this by building muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat does. If you counteract the inevitable decline in metabolism with steady or slowly increased exercise, you'll have more muscle and won't experience decline in calories burned.

But increased exercise doesn't mean you should start running marathons, especially if you hate running.  The point is to get out there and move. Try walking (a top weight loss exercise), ballroom dancing, bicycling, rowing, stair climbing, almost anything that gets your limbs moving and your heart pumping a little. High-impact exercise like jogging or high-impact aerobics, though, are not a good
idea for 35-plus joints.

2. Say Goodbye to Dieting

Don't think diet; think of making permanent changes in the way you eat. Be sure to eat a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet and eat meals regularly - not chaotically. What you eat at 45 should be different from what you eat at 25. The older you get, the less food you need without cutting back on nutrients. Of course, you should cut back
on fat at any age. Eat smaller portions than when you were younger and take care that the foods you do eat are nutrient-dense. Avoid junk foods with few nutrients and many calories. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetable, whole grains, dairy products, fish and lean meats.

To take off pounds, you'll need to combine lower-fat eating with stepped-up exercise. The reason is that if you try to lose weight by dieting only, you'll lose muscle as well as fat. And less muscle means a slower metabolism. People who eat low-fat diets and exercise regularly are usually more successful at weight loss - and are better able to keep the pounds off longer.

Don't go below 1,200 calories a day. Ultra-low-calorie diets very very rarely work long-term. People on ultra-low-calorie diets are starving, and their body sets off adaptive changes, like slowing of the metabolism, to undermine success. It's also difficult to get the nutrients you need on fewer than 1,200 calories.

3. Counteract a  Yo-Yo History

Researchers try to get yo-yo dieters metabolism back to normal by giving them a normal amount of calories for their bodies.  This is tough at first because they may be used to either starving themselves or gorging themselves. They initially gain weight, but much of that is water weight. It may take months for the water weight to come off, so they need a lot of education and support during that time. Then it's time for a low-fat diet that's rich in complex carbohydrate and, of course, exercise. The results will show up eventually, on one's body and the scale.